


Jet Pack Blues

by PunishedPyotr



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: First Time, Frottage, M/M, anon request, reupload, sowwy for contributing to the 'Tretij as a given name' cancer..., with feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 06:13:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13698507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunishedPyotr/pseuds/PunishedPyotr
Summary: Did you ever love her? Do you know?/Or did you never want to be alone?/And she was singing "Baby, come home"/I remember "Baby, come home"





	Jet Pack Blues

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [biscuit](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13415325) by [hingabee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hingabee/pseuds/hingabee). 



> (updated author's note:) Haha so yeah OBVIOUSLY this fic is not "inspired by" _biscuit_ , considering this fic was written about a year ago, long before I ever even met blackorb. I'm just including that for an easy link to an ACTUALLY GOOD Liquidmantis first time fic. Because... yeah... I never really liked this fic much. But it was an anon request, so I gave PP the okay to repost it anyway... I feel it'd be kind of shitty to just let it die... :/
> 
> (original author's note:) Someone came to my tumblr and asked, "i don't know if u take requests at all or it's ok to put them here but……… can i get some really fluffy first time liquidmantis were they both exchange i love yous??? (bonus points if liquid calls mantis tretij >:3c) i'd ask on ao3 but……… i'm shy"  
> Well, apparently I do take requests. You're welcome. (I like attention.)

A few weeks before Eli turned eighteen he made his way back to the UK with the end goal of forcing himself into the SAS’ recruitment process. Tretij tagged along, all the way to this ratty cheap hotel room with one bed just outside of London, even though he knew he couldn’t follow Eli any further than that.

_I’ll be fine_ , he thought, _I’m my own person now_.

“Right,” Eli said. “You don’t need me anymore.”

_Right_.

Secretly he was unsure. The days when he relied on Eli’s will and personality to replace or augment his own were long past, although admittedly Tretij’s own disposition now was heavily based off of what Eli had subconsciously projected onto him - for instance, Tretij was certainly more powerful than Eli, there was no question about that, he had almost god-like (or at least demigod-like) supernatural powers while Eli had only his speed, strength, and wit, but since Eli had always viewed him as someone he’d taken under his wing and felt a need to protect him, Tretij had ended up becoming very shy and content to hide behind Eli if he wasn’t actively needed. All because he was a little younger than him, maybe two years, and cute.

Cute. Tretij had heard Eli offhandedly think of him that way a million times since they met and it never stopped being… strange. Perhaps not _bad_ strange (although Tretij couldn’t definitively say it was _good_ strange), but _strange_.

“Strange? What’s strange?” Eli murmured, absently running his fingers through Tretij’s hair. Sometimes, if Tretij wasn’t careful, Eli would randomly pick up his thoughts.

_No, it’s nothing_ , Tretij told him. _You should sleep_. Tretij didn’t sleep himself - at least not very often - but nonetheless he was in bed with Eli, curled up against him, head resting on his chest. They often passed nights (or sometimes days) like this, since they often didn’t have room to sleep separately and Tretij usually didn’t have anything else to do than watch Eli’s dreams like a surreal television program. And besides, when he _did_ need to sleep - he slept easier with Eli.

He’d have to learn again how to sleep without his warmth beside him. He wasn’t sure how he’d be able to.

Eli opened his eyes. “I can’t,” he said.

_You need to. You have to get up early tomorrow._

Eli sighed. “It’s not that late.”

_It’s past midnight._

“I’m aware.”

There was a pregnant pause. Eli shifted underneath Tretij, the hand that was in his hair resettling on his lower back.

“Tretij, I love you,” he said, staring up at the ceiling.

It was the first time he’d ever said that out loud but Tretij was well familiar with the feeling. _I love you too, Eli._

“I’m going to miss you.”

_I know. I will, too._ He tilted his head back, tucking it underneath Eli’s chin. He felt Eli pull him a little closer, wondering when he would see him again, or even _if_ he would see him again… _Eli?_

“Hm?”

_Do you want to make love?_

Eli jolted to a sitting position, upsetting Tretij and making him tumble into his lap. Although it was dark, Tretij could tell Eli was blushing furiously, mostly because he could feel his embarrassment over their psychic link.

“Wh- _what??_ ” Eli stammered, eyes wide.

Tretij looked up at him. _Calm down. I know you want to in general, I was just asking if you’d like to right now. The thought crossed your mind…_

“I- well, it’s uncertain when we’ll ever see each other again,” Eli said, unable to bring himself to add “ _if_ we ever see each other again” out loud.

_I know_ , Tretij thought, _this might be our last chance to do it…_

Eli stared at him. “Do _you_ want to do it?”

Honestly, Tretij didn’t particularly - he’d seen far too much of it in other people’s minds to hold much of an interest in sex - although he wasn’t necessarily opposed to it when it came to Eli. Kind of neutral about the whole thing, really. _Only if you do,_ he told him. _And… I know you do…_

Eli went redder, if that was even possible. “You’re a little young for this, Tretij.”

_I’m a little young for a lot of things._

That was true, and true for Eli as well. Besides, the two of them had taken to using Eli’s birthday as Tretij’s, and they were still operating on the assumption that Tretij had been ten when they met, so he’d be turning sixteen in about a month. That was considered old enough in a lot of places — not that Eli or Tretij had ever much cared for what other people thought.

“Maybe I’ll just kiss you and go to sleep,” Eli said breathlessly, and they both knew that that wasn’t going to be how it panned out.

Tretij sat up in his lap and allowed Eli to, somewhat hesitantly, press his lips against the side of his face, right next to the edge of his gas mask. If only they weren’t so close to London, Tretij could have taken it off and they could do this properly. But Eli didn’t mind. He kissed him again, wrapping his arms around his waist and pulling him closer, and when Tretij tilted his head slightly, he kissed his throat, where there was more bare skin for his mouth to reach.

It felt kind of… nice.

Eli’s hand slipped down from Tretij’s waist to his ass sometime around when he started using his tongue. Tretij made some small, somewhat appreciative noise out loud, and Eli kissed him again, then tipped them over so that Tretij was lying on the bed with Eli on his hands and knees over him.

“Are you sure about this?” he said.

Tretij nodded.

“Completely sure? You won’t stop me halfway through?”

Tretij nodded again, reaching up and pulling Eli down to meet him, nuzzling his neck. _Just don’t do anything weird_ , he thought.

“Weird?” Eli said, “what do you mean, weird? How weird can sex _get?_ ”

Tretij really didn’t want to answer that. _Don’t hurt me, that’s all._

“…” Eli kissed his forehead. “Of course I won’t,” he said, “I’ll be very gentle.” As much as he could, anyway. But Tretij figured he could handle a bit of clumsiness.

Eli wasted no further time in stripping Tretij, peeling his clothes off and shoving them aside, where Tretij psychically caught them before they hit the floor and neatly folded them, placing them on the bedside table. Eli didn’t notice that at all. He barely realized he himself was still clothed. He just kept sucking at Tretij’s throat, grabbing his hips and pressing him against himself.

Tretij clung to his shoulders, wincing at the friction. “Tretij,” Eli mumbled against his skin.

_Yes?_

“I-I love you.” He moved down Tretij’s body, kissing along a long scar on his chest, running the fingers of one hand across Tretij’s very visible ribs and keeping him pressed close with his other hand splayed against his lower back. Tretij’s gasp hissed though his mask as Eli tongued one of his nipples.

_Eli…_  "Oh..." _I love you…_

Eli kept moving, down across Tretij’s stomach — his breath was so warm — then his hands and lips reached Tretij’s dick and balls and Tretij’s hips jerked, and he made a short, soft moan.

_Do you like that?_ Eli thought (since his mouth was occupied), and he was answered more with growing stiffness than with words.

Tretij nodded shakily, tangling his hands in Eli’s hair as Eli ran his tongue across his cock. His hips unintentionally jerked again, thrusting into Eli’s mouth, and Eli made a brief choking sound and pulled back, coughing a little.

_Sorry_ , Tretij thought, embarrassed.

“It’s fine,” Eli said, tracing his fingers up Tretij’s dick, then kissing the tip of it. Tretij squirmed, pulling at the sheets.

They continued like this for a few minutes, until Tretij was whimpering and Eli had a furious erection tenting the front of his pants just from watching Tretij squirm underneath him. Tretij held the sides of his head, dragging him up to meet him, nuzzling his face and wishing there weren’t so many people just outside these hotel walls so he could remove this barrier of plastic and silicon rubber separating their lips.

_I really love you, Eli_ , he thought, panting.

“I’m- I’m glad,” Eli said, grinding against Tretij’s erection, “I was w-worried- you wouldn’t—“

_Of course I accept your feelings,_ Tretij told him. He hooked his legs around Eli’s waist, rubbing himself up against him, almost helplessly. _They’re nice… they feel nice to me, Eli. Warm. I love it._

“God, I love you,” Eli whispered, kissing his neck again while fumbling with his pants, pushing them down and kicking them off, freeing his own erection to glide it against Tretij’s. He moaned against Tretij’s skin, just loudly enough that the guests in the neighboring rooms might have heard if they weren’t already asleep.

“Ah… gh…” Tretij’s back arched at Eli’s body heat and the slickness of his pre-seminal fluid against his own sensitive member. “Eli…”

“I think that’s the first t-time you’ve said my name out loud, Tretij,” Eli panted.

“Mmn…” _Keep going, Eli…_

Eli kept going, thrusting against Tretij, his whole body shaking with pleasure and struggling not to be so loud as to wake everyone else in the hotel. He buried his head against Tretij’s shoulder, his breath hot against his skin — Tretij held onto him, breathing hard, clawing at his back without thinking, leaving long red scrapes that Eli would feel only later.

He whimpered. _Please, Eli_ , he thought, starting to get overwhelmed, _slow down a little…_

“T-Tretij,” Eli gasped, the rhythm he had built up faltering, “I-I’m so c-close!”

_I know, I know, just- not so fast, please, it’s too much…_

The pace cooled, although Eli’s thrusts got much shakier, sliding against Tretij’s pelvis without really trying to rub up against Tretij’s dick, and he felt Eli’s hand in his hair. Tretij rutted against him slowly, trying to catch his breath, rather unsuccessfully.

His climax caught him off-guard, a dazing release of pressure and energy that he cried out at and left him still pumping his hips up against Eli by inertia, his thoughts jumbled, sticky semen on Eli’s stomach stringing down to Tretij’s because their bodies were so close.

Less than a minute later, just when Tretij was starting to let out pained whines at Eli’s heated skin chafing against him - he felt pretty oversensitive now - Eli also orgasmed, biting his lip to quiet himself, so hard that a bit of blood beaded there.

A few moments passed as Eli stared down at Tretij, still panting, then he kissed him, leaving his blood behind at the point where Tretij’s jaw met his neck.

“I love you,” he breathed.

_That was…_ Tretij thought, trying to find a word. It had felt good, certainly, _very_ good, but now that the thought about it the way he had- lost control of himself like that was sort of scary and he wasn’t sure he wanted to do that again. _That was… thrilling._

“Did you like it?” Eli asked.

Tretij nodded tiredly. Thinking about it more, he decided it was alright if it was with Eli. He couldn’t imagine this with anyone else, but Eli… he could act thoughtlessly in front of Eli.

Eli laid down next to him and pulled him close, and Tretij tucked himself away against him. It was almost scorching, where bare skin came into contact with each other. _Do you really have to go?_ Tretij thought, _can’t we just stay together forever?_

Eli shook his head. “You’ll be fine without me, Tretij.”

_But I’ll miss you._

“I will too. I’ll write, though.”

_You won’t forget me?_

“Of course I won’t.” He brushed Tretij’s hair out of the lens of his gas mask, then kissed his forehead. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to.”

_I know_ , Tretij thought, and closed his eyes. He was sleepy now, and still sticky, but mostly sleepy.

He drifted off into slumber with the feeling of Eli slowly brushing his hair with his fingers.

He woke up an indeterminate amount of time later to the sound of the rain. He was alone in bed, but he still sensed Eli’s presence - Tretij raised his head slightly to see that Eli was getting dressed and had already thrown his few belongings back into his tattered suitcase.

_You’re going now_ , Tretij thought, and although he wanted to phrase it as a question in his mind it was just a miserable statement.

Eli glanced over, but didn’t quite meet his eyes. “Yes,” he said.

Tretij felt sick to his stomach. He pulled the blanket closer around him - the blanket that he hadn’t fallen asleep with, Eli must have tucked him in when he got up. _Eli, I’ve got a bad feeling about this._

“I’ll be fine, Tretij.” There was a short pause, then he shook his head, thinking that Tretij just wanted him to stay but he wouldn’t stop him now. Not now.

Tretij didn’t reply to that accusation. _You’ll be careful, won’t you?_

“I will. I can take care of myself, Tretij.”

_What if something bad happens to you…?_

Eli walked over to the bed and sat on the edge of it, taking Tretij’s face in his hands and kissing him on the top of the head. “We’ll meet again, Tretij. Even if something bad happens, I’ll come back to you.”

_You will? You promise, Eli?_

“I promise.”

He stayed with Tretij until Tretij fell asleep again. Sometime later, he woke up once more. It was still raining. There was a bit of money sitting on top of his clothes, enough for a ferry across the English Channel and a train ticket to Berlin.

Eli was gone.

* * *

 He woke up in a veterans' hospital in London with Tretij holding his hand.

Only it wasn’t Tretij anymore. Not quite. He’d changed. Of course Liquid had changed too, but Tretij - he’d changed _more_. He was taller now, and skinnier, although perhaps he only seemed skinnier because he was taller, and he had shaved off all his pretty red hair and was going by the name Mantis now. He even acted different; he was no longer shy or passive in really any sense of the words, and in fact, he was kind of a dick. Even to Liquid. But at least with Liquid he wasn’t nearly as mean as he was with everyone else (his snark and insults were almost playful when it came to him), and as desperate as Liquid was for affection, he lapped it up.

And besides, he’d woken up with Mantis holding his hand, so he reasoned that no matter how much he had changed he still cared for him, even if his only response when Liquid tiredly murmured “I love you” was a hesitant “I know,” so quiet it was almost lost under the sound of the rain against the hospital’s roof.

He didn’t try it again after that. And when he remembered their last night together before he left for the SAS, just in passing, and saw the disgust and chagrin in Mantis’ eyes when he read his mind, Liquid finally accepted that their romance had been unceremoniously aborted while he was languishing in a POW camp in Iraq.

After Liquid was discharged from the hospital, they parted ways again, but this time they kept in close contact and frequently visited one another. When Liquid got the recruitment offer from FOXHOUND, as much as he wanted to join because it was Big Boss’ former unit, he almost refused - unless they extended the same offer to Mantis, that is. They had. Finally, they were together again, on a permanent basis.

Liquid was still in love with him, and he still thought about that night, sometimes.

Mantis eventually called him out.

“If you’re going to think about me while you touch yourself, you could at least come up with a fantasy where I am not underaged.”

Liquid flushed. “Oh god, you were _watching?_ Why??”

Mantis gave a very long-suffering sigh. “I do not know how to tell you this, Liquid, but any and every time you think of me, I hear it whether I want to or not.”

_Fuck._ Liquid put his face in his hands. His life was officially over.

Mantis rolled his eyes. “Calm down. Truthfully, I… can appreciate the fact that you still love me, even after… everything.”

There was pregnant pause, then Liquid peered at him through his fingers. “You can?”

“Love is a silly, nebulous thing,” Mantis said dismissively, “but I tolerate a lot of ridiculousness from you, anyway.”

“…” Liquid dropped his hands and looked away from Mantis, feeling far more let down than he should have, considering how long it had been. _Tolerating_ his feelings was a long way from _accepting_ his feelings, and even further from _returning_ them.

“What does it matter if I return them or not?” Mantis said, taking Liquid’s chin in his hand and turning his head to face him. “Eli, I still need you, more than anything.”

“Tretij—“ Liquid started, then bit his lip. It had been years since he’d called him that name.

Behind the mask, Mantis’ eyes narrowed in what almost seemed like it could have been a smile. “I still think about that night sometimes, too,” he said in a low voice, “and how you promised you would come back to me.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Liquid said.

“You did.” Mantis nuzzled him, and Liquid figured this had to be what Heaven felt like. “I am glad you did.”

And later, Liquid would realize what Mantis had really meant by “I need you,” and that maybe he hadn’t changed as much as he’d thought.

**Author's Note:**

> (any and all comments will be forewarded to aireyv! i will either copy/paste their reply to me or they will reply on their own account! have a nice day!!! if you have any questions, just ask!!!!)


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